Quoting Jennifer Siegal, founder of Venica, California-based Office of Mobile Design (OMD): "I’m interested in how technology is influencing the way we form communities…because our lifestyles are demanding more lightness, our buildings shouldn’t be sitting so heavy." Siegal was featured in the October 2006 issue of Fast Company magazine, and praised as a "fresh face from the front lines of design." In a world where renderings are common and completed projects are not, aka, the prefab world, Siegal is really staking a claim in this ultra-stylish, sustainable chase for comfortable, affordable living.

Siegal’s work includes the Mobile Eco Lab (1998), Portable House (2001), Seatrain House (2003), and the Swellhouse. Her most recent work is a modern, modular home product line called Take Home. Go to the website and take a gander at her captivating architecture. You’ll find also that her work goes beyond the realm of aesthetics and mid-century modern vernacular and into sustainability. That’s going to be where architects will make a huge difference, I believe. In addition to that, I think OMD is taking pro-active steps to clarify the pricing of their prefabs and make modern + sustainable living more affordable.

Sustainability:Sustainability is a key issue in the design process at OMD. Prefab presents the natural green benefit of avoiding all the construction waste that plagues stick-built construction. With the Take Home, OMD also offers precision steel construction, high-end amenities (Italian Boffi kitchens + Duravit bathrooms), fully landscaped courtyards with pools, passive cooling systems, and AVAILABLE 100% solar power and water heating. Also available is bamboo and radiant heated flooring. Homes range in size from 800-5,000 square feet and cost $210-270 per square foot. Not bad at all!

The ultra-stylish bloggers at PrairieMod turned me on to a story in Kiplinger’s, which details the process that a couple went through to get their dream prefab home. I liked this article for two reasons: (1) they talk about the prefab process in terms of tangible, financial figures, and (2) they go through some of obstacles and intricacies particular to prefab purchasing and construction. With many articles on prefab, authors glorify the design (which makes sense because many of them are extremely stylish) and harp on the price. With prefab pricing, it seems that the common wisdom is that prefabs are cheap for custom-built, architect-designed homes, but they are expensive when compared to a traditional home.

Regardless, I still believe that prefab has the power to revolutionize and commoditize site-build tasks that are wasteful, thereby producing cost savings in resource, labor, and design. I’m brainstorming a business plan for this right now. Here are a few points that this article makes:

Prefabs Require Unique Financing – as opposed to the traditional mortgage loan and its many variations, prefabs require a construction loan or a construction-to-permanent loan. Why? Some banks aren’t educated on the value of modular, modern, factory-built structures and they’re worried about the note collateral.

Factory versus Site Finish-outs – sometimes it may be more difficult to get contractors to do the work on site and they may charge a premium. Depending, it could be more beneficial to get as much of the home built at the factory as possible.

Panelized versus Modular – there’s a difference. Panelized prefabs have sections stuffed with wiring + insulation; they are trucked to the lot, more customizable, and cost a little more. Modular prefabs are built in units of entire rooms or bigger and can be constrained by highway travel (12 x 12 x up to 64?). Modular prefabs are likely to be less expensive.

Pricing – prefabs are 20-30% cheaper than custom homes designed by the same architect, but they’re more expensive than tract-type, suburban homes.

GIVEN – prefabs are not on the same planet as manufactured homes.

The McGlasson Home: Pricing The McGlassons purchased an Alchemy Architects plan for a 780 square feet prefab. Alchemy outsourced the construction to a Wisconsin manufacturing factory (6 weeks). The actual home: $95,000. Delivery + crane costs: $6,000. Contractors connected the house wiring to the grid, dug a well, and did the finish-outs: $59,000. Total cost: $160,000 (including fixtures + appliances, not including land). Not bad.

On Saturday at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Leo Marmol was kind enough to spend an hour and talk about his firm‘s work in the design-build and prefab context. I was looking forward to this lecture for about 2 months and was not disappointed. Marmol lectured on his firm’s work with mid-century modern residences and the four standards (Secretary of Interior Standards) for renovation: preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, + reconstruction. Towards the end of the lecture, he started to get into his firm’s prefab work and environmentalism.

Here are some notes…

As a site-build firm, we know very intimately how inefficient and stupid architectural processes are. We live with that stupidity everyday. It’s a really inefficient, wasteful, cumbersome process that we use to build today. There’s a lot of reasons why we still do it, but it’s inherently wasteful, so our goal is to build as much as possible in the factory.

We’ve seen lumber + steel prices climb, and even labor is a little strained. Materials are getting more and more scarce, more and more, therefore, valuable, and more and more expensive. That will continue in the future.

We’ve seen the rise in design with the iPod and with Target enlisting Philippe Starke to create a toothbrush. Design is a marketing opportunity to set your firm apart from the norm.

With Prefab, the goal is to provide clean, simple, modern living and do it as cost-effectively as possible. So prefabrication is a means to deal with the rising construction costs.

If you’re an architect and a builder, and you don’t have guilt, you’re not paying attention. We put so much attention on the auto industry, but it pales in comparison to the architecture industry. Architecture is the greatest polluting force on the planet. There is no other industry on the earth that uses more of our earth’s resources than construction and there is no other industry to releases so many polluting, bad things back to the earth. Prefab allows us to deal with this guilt and be more efficient.

Sometimes the media gets it wrong with regards to prefab, but they are enthusiastic about this technology. That enthusiasm can lead everyone astray. Prefabs are not manufactured homes. Prefabs won’t save the world or deliver homes for under $100 a square foot. Prefab is not a magic bullet. They are cheap in comparison to custom, architect-designed homes (LA price: $400-600 sq.ft.), but they are not necessarily cheap. Building homes is difficult and takes lots of money + materials.

It should be noted that Mr. Marmol’s prefab division is making a conscious choice to be environmental in the construction of prefabs. The prefabs are designed to receive LEED certification, made from recycled steel, employ Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), and use FSC-certified wood, low-VOC Green Seal paint, solar panels, etc. Each prefab is designed with the site in mind so the structure can be attentive to natural light and shading. And if you’re interested in seeing one, there’s an open house in California (instructions below).

This building is a little old hat for many of the readers here (it was an AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Project in 2004), but I think there are some important aspects of the projects that can be remembered and applied to new green projects. This building is in the highest eschelon of LEED ratings, the platinum standard (LEED-NC, v2), and if you follow the links below, they’ve been generous enough to explain how they received all the points towards Platinum certification. You can even take a virtual tour of the building if you’re interested.

The building is the corporate headquarters for a biotechnology firm and houses 900 employees in 12 floors. Here are some of the many green features: high performance curtainwall glazing system with operable windows on all 12 floors; steam from local plant is used for heating + cooling; about 1/3 of the building uses ventilated double-facade that blocks summer solar and captures winter solar gains; the central atrium acts as a huge return air duct and light shaft; air moves up the atrium and out exhaust fans near the skylight; natural light is brought in from solar-tracking mirrors above the skylight and reflected deep throughout the building; the building saves water use comparably by 32% by using waterless urinals, dual flush toilets, automatic faucets, and low-flush fixtures; storm water supplements the cooling towers and irrigates the landscaped roof; partial electricity generation is provided by the building integrated photovoltaics (PV); nearly 90% of the wood is FSC-certified; and the building materials were chosen based on low emissions, recycled content, and/or local manufacturing. Not a bad list!

Local Dallas architect, Ron Wommack, received a 2006 Texas Society of Architects Design Award for his work on the Commerce Street Townhomes in east Dallas. Actually, the site is located on a previously abandoned site, which was the industrial/manufacturing area east of downtown Dallas. The neighborhood is gradually being renovated and transformed into residential living spaces. With this project, one of the architect’s goals was to create a place that carried the baggage of location’s industrial past, so the design incorporates materials such as concrete blocks, metal, and wood (in the right colors). I asked the architect about some of the sustainable features and wanted to relay those to the Jetson Green readership.

First, the buildling was designed to utilize natural light and shading (passive solar design), which is especially apparent in the trellised roof deck and the living room clerestory. Second, you’ll notice, that the roof trellises were made with chain-link fence post pipe, which is easy to recycle and extremely low maintenance. We’re thinking about the life cycle of the product here. Third, the metal skins adjust quickly with the temperature changes. And last, they used an HVAC system with a higher SEER rating (Seasonal Energy-Efficiency Rating – the higher the better…generally speaking, if you spend about $360 annually on AC with a 10-SEER, a move to the 16-SEER will save you $135 a year or so). So, we’re seeing a little bit of green incorporated in the design, and the place is extremely striking, too. Projects like this will help move Dallas forward into greener pastures of residential building.

Low impact, high design. I just wanted to let the architects and designers know about a cutting edge material from 3form called "100 Percent." 100 Percent is made from 100% post-consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Basically, 3form collects post-consumer HDPE flakes, sorts them by color, arranges the flake material to create a pattern, and then applies heat pressure to fuse the flakes into a single panel (without using binders). 100 Percent is currently available in one pattern and four colors (shown below), and the company is waiting for Greenguard Environmental Institute certification for low indoor emissions.

While 100 Percent has yet to be installed on an actual project, it’s a very tough material and could be appropriate for high-abuse indoor applications (schools, bathrooms, etc.). Indoor applications are limited by its UL 94 classification (HB) and outdoor applications are limited by its lack of UV protection. 3form says 100 Percent is "ideally suited for education, science, and health care environments." This material was innovative enough to win the 2006 NeoCon Gold Award for surfacing materials at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair. The company is also well-known in the design world for its Varia materials line (made of Ecoresin–40% post-industrial reclaimed material).